Creating the UFR Difference
- Hugh Whitehouse
- Nov 7, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 19
Client: Universal Field Robots
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Universal Field Robots (https://universalfieldrobots.com.au/) recently approached me to assist in the production of some corporate storytelling content across three key areas.
These were:
An updated brand positioning piece about what makes UFR different
A culture/recruitment series as UFR looks to expand their local operations, and
Getting ahead of the game on LinkedIn's promotion of 9x16 (vertical) video
To minimize impact on the business, I scheduled two half-day (4-hour) shoots occurring over two consecutive days.
The first task was to film multi-camera interviews with the Managing Director, Jeff Sterling, and the Head of Sales and Operations, Dush Wimal, as well as some single-camera stand-up interviews with the team. The second task was focused on acquiring b-roll footage of the workshops, tools, gadgets, and everything else on-site to visually tell the story.
In the interviews, Hannah Frankish and I asked questions and coached the talent on giving the best response possible. Part of the skills you learn as a combined Shooter/Editor is to never wish the talent had just said something a little differently. Help them work through a couple of options while you're still filming in the room.
This can be as easy as offering a different turn of phrase to help loosen the talent's mind. Or it could be listening and reshaping their response to be simpler or more concise.
The beauty of using a multi-camera setup in factual storytelling is that it allows you to be really impactful and create or highlight moments like you would in a narrative. It's for that reason I like to try and get a few different options for the delivery of key points.
Aspect Ratio Matters:
From The UFR Difference and UFR Team Culture I was able to cut between 4-6 short social videos, approximately 15-30 seconds each. I produced these in both 16x9 and 9x16 formats (with the 9x16 being the preferred format right now on many platforms from YouTube to LinkedIn).
I experimented A LOT to try and find the best and most reliable aspect ratio for social content when producing the award winning Welcome to Queens' Land. I tried 9x16, 1x1, 5x4, 8x6 and more. It was a headache.
Recently, though, I've seen the same 9x16 content on the same platform outperform its 16x9 equivalent by 300%. Now a lot of this is due to current platform bias... LinkedIn has become the new Business Facebook... But if you're not extracting key moments or sound bites from your corporate content to provide another opportunity to convey that message to people, you're missing out.
Lumix S5iix (x2)
Rigid PRO Cinerig
Lumix S9
PolarPro VND (1-5) (x2)
Hoya IR Cut (x3)
Samyang 35-150mm f2/2.8
Lumix 24-105mm f4
Sigma 50mm F1.8 (EF)
Sigma 85mm f1.8 (EF)
Blackmagic Design 12G 5" Monitor (x2)
Blackmagic Design 12G 12" Monitor
Blackmagic Design ATEM Extreme ISO
Aputure 150d (x3)
Aputure Light Dome
Aputure Fresnel
Aputure Chinaball
Rode WirelessGO 2 (x2)
Sirui SVS75 Tripod (x3)
Preproduction: 2 - 6hrs
Production (on site): 4 - 6 hrs
Post Production (Data managemnt): 2 - 4 hrs
Post Production (Assembly): 12 - 24 hrs
Post Prodution (Colour Grade): 8 hrs
Post Production (Audio Mix/Master): 4 - 8 hrs
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